Article
Environmental Sciences
Mark C. Serreze, Julia Gustafson, Andrew P. Barrett, Matthew L. Druckenmiller, Shari Fox, Jessica Voveris, Julienne Stroeve, Betsy Sheffield, Bruce C. Forbes, Sirpa Rasmus, Roza Laptander, Mike Brook, Mike Brubaker, James Temte, Michelle R. McCrystall, Annett Bartsch
Summary: Arctic rain on snow events can have profound impacts on the environment and human livelihoods, sometimes leading to massive starvation-induced die-offs of animals. Systematic detection and understanding of these events require collaboration with community members and indigenous knowledge-holders, in addition to utilizing data from satellite remote sensing, atmospheric reanalyses, and meteorological station records.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Heather Kropp, Michael M. Loranty, Nick Rutter, Christopher G. Fletcher, Chris Derksen, Lawrence Mudryk, Markus Todt
Summary: The timing and rate of spring snowmelt in northern high latitudes are important for the environment. Forests and grasslands are more conducive to snowmelt compared to other land cover types.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Studies
Charlotte Gehrke
Summary: This article evaluates the claim that polar bear conservation represents a successful case of Arctic science diplomacy. By analyzing policy, governmental, and scientific documents, as well as conducting interviews, the paper identifies two periods of polar bear science diplomacy and evaluates each based on success criteria. The article argues that while the first period was successful, the current dominance of the climate change threat has shifted authority away from the Arctic towards international climate change research and politics.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Melissa P. Galicia, Gregory W. Thiemann, Markus G. Dyck, Steven H. Ferguson
Summary: The study found that polar bears primarily feed on ringed seals, with varying consumption proportions in different regions; there are also hot spots of consumption for bearded seals, Atlantic walrus, harbour seals, and harp seals in different areas or seasons. Polar bear feeding habits can reflect changes in prey distribution, providing clues to understanding the functioning of Arctic ecosystems.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rui Cheng, Troy S. Magney, Erica L. Orcutt, Zoe Pierrat, Philipp Kohler, David R. Bowling, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte, Eugenie S. Euskirchen, Martin Jung, Hideki Kobayashi, Adrian Rocha, Oliver Sonnentag, Jochen Stutz, Sophia Walther, Donatella Zona, Christian Frankenberg
Summary: Photosynthesis of terrestrial ecosystems in the Arctic-Boreal region is crucial for the global carbon cycle. However, using solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) as a proxy for photosynthesis in high latitudes presents challenges due to unique plant species and land cover types, as well as complex terrain and sub-pixel land cover. This study evaluates the empirical relationships between SIF and gross primary production (GPP) in the Arctic-Boreal region, revealing specific issues that need to be considered for accurate estimation of GPP and dealing with model-data uncertainties.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nathaniel Orndorf, Austin M. Garner, Ali Dhinojwala
Summary: This study quantifies the surface roughness of bear paw pads and explores the relationship between papillae and frictional shear stress. The results show that polar bears have taller papillae and larger true surface area than other bear species, leading to an increased frictional shear stress on snow. However, when accounting for paw pad area, the absolute frictional forces are estimated to be similar among species.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Anna Lippold, Andrei Boltunov, Jon Aars, Magnus Andersen, Marie-Anne Blanchet, Rune Dietz, Igor Eulaers, Tamara N. Morshina, Vyacheslav S. Sevastyanov, Jeffrey M. Welker, Heli Routti
Summary: This study examined the spatial variation in total mercury concentrations in polar bear hair samples from the Norwegian and Russian Arctic regions. The results revealed that both the Norwegian and Russian polar bears had lower mercury exposure compared to other populations, and the spatial variation of mercury concentration was not driven by the feeding ecology of polar bears.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Benjamin Merkel, Jon Aars
Summary: Climate warming has led to significant sea ice loss in the Arctic, affecting the availability of denning habitat for polar bears. The delayed arrival of sea ice has reduced the accessible area for pregnant female polar bears, posing a threat to their population persistence.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Adam F. Pedersen, Rune Dietz, Christian Sonne, Robert J. Letcher, Anna M. Roos, Malene Simon, Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid, Steven H. Ferguson, Melissa A. McKinney
Summary: There are significant differences in the concentrations of legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs) between polar bears and toothed whales in the Arctic, which can be attributed to regional and temporal variations, differences in biological susceptibility, and ecological factors. Analyzing samples from East Greenland, it was found that feeding patterns have a greater influence on pollutant concentrations, while biological differences primarily affect certain organochlorine compounds.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2024)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jennifer Routledge, Christian Sonne, Robert J. Letcher, Rune Dietz, Paul Szpak
Summary: Stable carbon (613C) and nitrogen (615N) isotope analysis was conducted on modern and archaeological polar bear bones from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to investigate potential changes in their foraging ecology. The results showed a decline in 613C values in modern samples compared to archaeological ones, indicating a disruption in the food web sources after the Industrial Revolution. However, the trophic structure, indicated by 615N, remained unchanged throughout all time periods. This suggests that modern anthropogenic warming has already affected the food web structure in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
Review
Ecology
Alex Mavrovic, Oliver Sonnentag, Juha Lemmetyinen, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Christophe Kinnard, Alexandre Roy
Summary: Spaceborne microwave remote sensing is a valuable method for monitoring environmental changes in Arctic-boreal regions (ABRs) where ground observations are limited. It can provide important information about surface and near-surface variables affecting terrestrial carbon cycle processes, such as carbon dioxide fluxes and methane exchange. Microwave remote sensing also allows for aboveground biomass estimation. Given its long record and global coverage, microwave data has untapped potential for monitoring carbon cycle processes across ABRs and should be rapidly integrated into ABR terrestrial carbon cycle science.
Article
Ecology
Stine Hojlund Pedersen, Torsten W. Bentzen, Adele K. Reinking, Glen E. Liston, Kelly Elder, Elizabeth A. Lenart, Alexander K. Prichard, Jeffrey M. Welker
Summary: The study found that snow depth has a significant impact on caribou winter range selection and movement. Caribou choose different habitats based on snow depth in different winter conditions, and snow depth affects their movement and selection within these habitats.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Dag Vongraven, Andrew E. Derocher, Nicholas W. Pilfold, Nigel G. Yoccoz
Summary: Wildlife harvest, especially that of polar bears, remains a conservation concern. This study examines the temporal patterns in polar bear harvests from 1970 to 2018 and finds variation in harvest rates, sex ratios, and jurisdictions. Although some populations have shown improvements in management and sustainable harvest rates, concerns remain due to infrequent abundance estimates, new management objectives, and climate change.
FRONTIERS IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Kristin L. Laidre, Todd W. Arnold, Eric V. Regehr, Stephen N. Atkinson, Erik W. Born, Oystein Wiig, Nicholas J. Lunn, Markus Dyck, Harry L. Stern, Seth Stapleton, Benjamin Cohen, David Paetkau
Summary: Climate change is a long-term threat to polar bears, but sea-ice loss has temporarily increased the productivity and health of a polar bear subpopulation in Kane Basin. The data analysis showed an estimated increase in bear abundance and density in recent years compared to the mid-1990s. The survival rates of females and their dependent offspring remain similar to previous estimates, supporting positive population growth.
ENDANGERED SPECIES RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tristan Pearce, David Fawcett, James Ford
Summary: The 2008 listing of the polar bear as a threatened species in the US has led to a decrease in guided polar bear hunts in Canada by Americans. However, this study found that the number of bears harvested and the sex composition were not significantly affected after the US listing. The decrease in guided hunts was compensated by an increase in subsistence hunts.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
A. Green, G. Bohrer, R. M. Petrone
Summary: The study investigated the impact of fetch on flow separation and microclimates within a peatland surrounded by a forest through canopy-resolving regional atmospheric-forest large-eddy simulations. It was found that the heterogeneous landscape of the Boreal Plains region often leads to turbulent effects on peatlands from surrounding ecosystems, resulting in spatially dynamic surface-atmosphere exchanges. Additionally, the study showed that the geometry and exit transition shape of peatlands can influence regional wind speeds.
BOUNDARY-LAYER METEOROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Maarten J. E. Broekman, Jelle P. Hilbers, Mark A. J. Huijbregts, Thomas Mueller, Abdullahi H. Ali, Henrik Andren, Jeanne Altmann, Malin Aronsson, Nina Attias, Hattie L. A. Bartlam-Brooks, Floris M. van Beest, Jerrold L. Belant, Dean E. Beyer, Laura Bidner, Niels Blaum, Randall B. Boone, Mark S. Boyce, Michael B. Brown, Francesca Cagnacci, Rok Cerne, Simon Chamaille-Jammes, Nandintsetseg Dejid, Jasja Dekker, Arnaud L. J. Desbiez, Samuel L. Diaz-Munoz, Julian Fennessy, Claudia Fichtel, Christina Fischer, Jason T. Fisher, Ilya Fischhoff, Adam T. Ford, John M. Fryxell, Benedikt Gehr, Jacob R. Goheen, Morgan Hauptfleisch, A. J. Mark Hewison, Robert Hering, Marco Heurich, Lynne A. Isbell, Rene Janssen, Florian Jeltsch, Petra Kaczensky, Peter M. Kappeler, Miha Krofel, Scott LaPoint, A. David M. Latham, John D. C. Linnell, A. Catherine Markham, Jenny Mattisson, Emilia Patricia Medici, Guilherme de Miranda Mourao, Bram Van Moorter, Ronaldo G. Morato, Nicolas Morellet, Atle Mysterud, Stephen Mwiu, John Odden, Kirk A. Olson, Aivars Ornicans, Nives Pagon, Manuela Panzacchi, Jens Persson, Tyler Petroelje, Christer Moe Rolandsen, David Roshier, Daniel Rubenstein, Sonia Said, Albert R. Salemgareyev, Hall Sawyer, Niels Martin Schmidt, Nuria Selva, Agnieszka Sergiel, Jared Stabach, Jenna Stacy-Dawes, Frances E. C. Stewart, Jonas Stiegler, Olav Strand, Siva Sundaresan, Nathan J. Svoboda, Wiebke Ullmann, Ulrich Voigt, Jake Wall, Martin Wikelski, Christopher C. Wilmers, Filip Zieba, Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica, Aafke M. Schipper, Marlee A. Tucker
Summary: This study evaluated habitat suitability data from the IUCN with GPS tracking data for 49 mammal species, showing that the two sources were largely consistent and can be used in macroecological studies. GPS tracking data can also help identify species and habitats for re-evaluation of IUCN habitat suitability.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yang Ju, Gil Bohrer
Summary: This study utilized NDVI time series to classify vegetation patches with high accuracy, especially in pixels with more uniform compositions. The research also revealed significant impacts of water level changes on wetland vegetation distribution.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yaojie Lu, Brandon Sloan, Sally E. Thompson, Alexandra G. Konings, Gil Bohrer, Ashley Matheny, Xue Feng
Summary: Understanding plant hydraulic regulation is crucial for predicting plant and ecosystem responses to increased drought stress. Direct measurements of plant hydraulic traits are limited compared to other traits, and scaling these measurements to whole-plant values is challenging. This study presents a method to infer whole-plant hydraulic parameters from observations of plant water use, soil properties, and meteorological data, providing reliable estimates of plant water use and isohydricity.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Aaron Teets, David J. P. Moore, M. Ross Alexander, Peter D. Blanken, Gil Bohrer, Sean P. Burns, Mariah S. Carbone, Mark J. Ducey, Shawn Fraver, Christopher M. Gough, David Y. Hollinger, George Koch, Thomas Kolb, J. William Munger, Kimberly A. Novick, Scott Ollinger, Andrew P. Ouimette, Neil Pederson, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Bijan Seyednasrollah, Christoph S. Vogel, Andrew D. Richardson
Summary: This study investigated the relationship between biomass growth and carbon uptake in temperate forests, and found a lagged allocation of carbon uptake to biomass growth on an annual timescale. The correlation between biomass growth and carbon uptake was strong across different sites, but weaker on an annual timescale, indicating a temporal mismatch between carbon fixation and allocation.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Eliezer Gurarie, Chloe Bracis, Angelina Brilliantova, Ilpo Kojola, Johanna Suutarinen, Otso Ovaskainen, Sriya Potluri, William F. Fagan
Summary: This study presents a cognitive analysis of wolf movements in Finland and finds that wolves choose foraging locations based on memory, but there is individual variation in response strategies, possibly influenced by pack size, number of pups, and territory features.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Christopher M. Gough, Jeff W. Atkins, Robert T. Fahey, Peter S. Curtis, Gil Bohrer, Brady S. Hardiman, Laura J. Hickey, Lucas E. Nave, Kerstin M. Niedermaier, Cameron Clay, Jason M. Tallant, Ben Bond-Lamberty
Summary: The temporal dynamics of forest canopy structure following disturbance are influenced by factors such as the severity and source of disturbance, spatial and temporal scales of analysis, and the measures of structure assessed. Unlike traditional leaf area and cover indexes, structural complexity indicators display a more nuanced temporal and directional response to disturbance.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Adele K. Reinking, Stine Hojlund Pedersen, Kelly Elder, Natalie T. Boelman, Thomas W. Glass, Brendan A. Oates, Scott Bergen, Shane Roberts, Laura R. Prugh, Todd J. Brinkman, Michael B. Coughenour, Jennifer A. Feltner, Kristin J. Barker, Torsten W. Bentzen, Ashild O. Pedersen, Niels M. Schmidt, Glen E. Liston
Summary: Snow properties have a significant impact on the ecology of wildlife in snowy environments, but studying the relationship between wildlife and snow is challenging. Collaborative efforts between wildlife and snow professionals are necessary to comprehensively assess the role of snow in wildlife ecology.
Editorial Material
Environmental Sciences
G. Bohrer, J. E. C. Missik
Summary: The plant hydrodynamic approach is a recent advancement in land surface modeling, involving the response of stomatal conductance to water availability in the xylem. To realistically represent tree hydrodynamics, models must resolve processes at the individual tree level and then scale the fluxes to the canopy and land surface. Mixed forests require careful representation of species properties and a scaling approach for a realistic description of canopy, individual-tree hydrodynamics, and leaf-level fluxes.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Ecology
William F. Fagan, Cole Saborio, Tyler D. Hoffman, Eliezer Gurarie, Robert Stephen Cantrell, Chris Cosner
Summary: This article discusses the tracking and acquisition of resources by consumers in complex environments and investigates the impact of resource gradients on consumer behavior through six different definitions. The study found that movement strategies based on temporal gradients afforded consumers with the best opportunities to match resource distributions.
THEORETICAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ben M. Roberts-Pierel, Peter B. Kirchner, John B. Kilbride, Robert E. Kennedy
Summary: This study addresses the limitations of traditional methods for mapping glacier change by developing a novel deep-learning-based approach. The researchers successfully created a record of glacier change in Alaska for over three decades using this method. The results show that the deep learning model can accurately capture the changes in glacier coverage.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Calum X. Cunningham, Glen E. Liston, Adele K. Reinking, Natalie T. Boelman, Todd J. Brinkman, Kyle Joly, Mark Hebblewhite, Stan Boutin, Sophie Czetwertynski, Leonard E. Sielecki, Laura R. Prugh
Summary: The risk of moose-vehicle collisions increases during winter due to concurrent seasonal changes in human and wildlife behavior. Snow depth influences collision risk through its impacts on moose movement, while strong seasonal changes in daylight hours cause an increase in nighttime traffic volumes that further contribute to risk.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Ophelie H. Couriot, Matthew D. Cameron, Kyle Joly, Jan Adamczewski, Mitch W. Campbell, Tracy Davison, Anne Gunn, Allicia P. Kelly, Mathieu Leblond, Judy Williams, William F. Fagan, Anna Brose, Eliezer Gurarie
Summary: Warming temperatures and advancing spring are impacting the annual snow and ice cycles, as well as plant phenology, in the Arctic and boreal regions, which in turn affects the timing and location of calving for barren-ground caribou. Weather conditions during gestation have contrasting effects on calving, with unfavorable conditions resulting in delayed arrival on the calving area or failure to reach it in time. Overall, there is considerable variability in timing and location of calving across years and herds, but no significant trend for earlier calving by caribou, despite earlier indicators of spring and snow phenology. Monitoring calving timing and location is crucial, as well as examining how weather conditions during summer and winter impact reproductive success.
Article
Ecology
Anna E. Soccorsi, Scott D. LaPoint
Summary: Rapid human development and activity have impacted the spatial and temporal dynamics of mammalian mesocarnivore communities. This study used motion-sensitive cameras and occupancy models to assess habitat use and activity patterns of local mesocarnivores near Newburgh, New York. The results showed that red foxes were positively associated with urban areas and exhibited higher nocturnal activity in semiurban areas. Coyotes showed adaptability to urban areas but also preferred higher elevation sites with more natural habitat cover. The study emphasized the importance of managing urban carnivore populations and mitigating human-wildlife conflicts at the local scale.
JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Marcela Silva, Ashley M. Matheny, Valentijn R. N. Pauwels, Dimetre Triadis, Justine E. Missik, Gil Bohrer, Edoardo Daly
Summary: This article presents a model for simulating water fluxes across the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. The model combines water transport pathways into one dimension and uses partial differential equations to describe water movement through the plant system. The model was tested and validated against observed data, demonstrating its accuracy and reliability.
GEOSCIENTIFIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT
(2022)